Three women, three generations, one family and many life twists, traumas and secrets
The story begins before the First World War, when Anna, the storyteller's grandmother, leaves, despite her parents' opposition with her chosen Antonín, to a border town in northern Bohemia. As if the initial letter of their names expressed the hope that it was here that they could start a new life together. At the same time, the name also symbolizes what we cannot choose, what is given to us as a family heirloom, which despite all our determination to change we always carry with us. Or fate, on whose tests we have little influence.
The new beginning soon turns into a struggle for survival when Antonin is wounded at the front and tuberculosis breaks out with Anna. A quarter of a century later their daughter Elizabeth, who must flee from the German border-occupying army, awaits another new start, and after another half-century, the dramatic fate of fate - this time as a StB officer - will change the story of Anežka.
Alena Mornštajnová, beyond doubt, managed to write a riveting and multi-layered novel that follows not only the lives of the three main heroines, but also a number of other characters, and her book seems to be a revelation like Memory to My Grandmother Petra Hůlová.